As an independent state, the (Former Yugoslav) Republic of Macedonia found itself in various disputes with its neighbours during the 1990s.

[link to i.share.pho.to]

As an independent state, the Republic of Macedonia found itself in various

disputes with its neighbours during the 1990s, many of which were rooted in

Macedonian, Greek, Bulgarian and to a lesser extent, Serbian sensitivities

concerning national identity. For what has been at the core of these conflicts is

the question of the origins of the Macedonian nation (Kofos 2001: 255).


The Bulgarian perception of the Macedonians has historically been – and remains

– that the Macedonian people originate from the Bulgarian nation and that the

Macedonian language is simply a dialect of Bulgarian. Therefore, from a Bulgarian

point of view, the territory of the Republic of Macedonia is culturally and

nationally Bulgarian. Although political leaders in Sofia today officially maintain

that Bulgaria makes no territorial claim on Macedonia, the Bulgarians nonetheless

retain a strong attachment to Macedonia, which in turn is influenced by the fact

that many Bulgarians originally arrived in Bulgaria as immigrants from Vardar and

Aegean Macedonia. The Bulgarian attitude is illustrated by the decision to

recognise the Macedonian state in the early 1990s while refusing to acknowledge

the existence of a distinct Macedonian nation.


Greece, in turn, opposes the application of the name ‘Macedonia’ to any other

place than what to them is Macedonia, namely, northern Greece, and denies the

existence of any Macedonian national minority, claiming instead that those who

call themselves Macedonians are Slavophone Greeks. Following the Republic of

Macedonia’s declaration of independence in 1991, Greece exerted great pressure

within the European Union to deny the incipient republic diplomatic recognition

unless it changed its name, and placed a trade embargo on Macedonia.


In contrast to Bulgaria and Greece, Serbia’s position towards the Macedonians is

more ambiguous. While Belgrade was instrumental in promoting a sense of

Macedonian national consciousness during the communist era, Serbia has in the

past often maintained that the territory of the Republic of Macedonia constitutes a

southern part of Serbia and that ethnic Macedonians are Serbs by origin.


Albania, in turn, does not reject the existence of a Macedonian nation but given

the relatively large Albanian population in the Republic of Macedonia, objects to

the present constitutional structure that effectively makes Macedonia a state

belonging primarily to the ethnic Macedonian majority where Albanians are

relegated to the status of second-class citizens.


At the same time as Bulgaria and Greece continue to exert rhetorical and

psychological pressure on the Macedonian nation and state, the conflict between

the ethnic Macedonian and Albanian communities in the Republic of Macedonia

continues, as the political leaders of the Albanian minority demand that Albanians

be conferred the status of a constituent nation, on a par with the Macedonian

nation, and that the Albanian language be made an official language of the
Republic of Macedonia, alongside the Macedonian language. From a Macedonian

perspective, however, there is a widespread fear that the realisation of such

demands from the Albanians, as well as potentially threatening claims from

neighbouring states, would spell the end of the Macedonian nation-state.